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Lincoln Continental 1994 Complaint

Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC : ANTILOCK

AVON, CT

Consumer Complaint:
PREVIOSULY REPORTED "NHTSA VEHICLE OWNER'S QUESTIONAIRE REFERENCE NUMBER 806372 DATED 12/16/1996. ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS AT APPROX, 20,00 MILES (10/28/96) AND APPROX. 55,000 MILES(10/9/98) THE BRAKES ON THE SUBJECT VEHICLE(1994 LINCOLN CONTINTIAL) HAVE FAILED. IN BOTH INSTANCES THE FAILURE OCCURED AT LOW SPEED AFTER HAVING SAT FOR A SHORT PEERIOD OF TIME WITH THE ARE IDLING AND THE FOOT BRAKE DEPRESSED, THAN RELEASED WITH THE CAR SLOWLY MOVING FORWARD(APPROX. 1 TO 2 MPH). UPON DEPRESSING THE FOOT BRAKE TO STOP THE PEDAL DEPRESSED ALL THE WAY TO FLOORBOARD WITH NO BRAKING AVAILABLE RESULTING IN MINOR ACCIDENTS TO NEARBY VEHICLES. IN ALL INSTANCES THERE HAS BEEN NO BRAKE FLUID LOSS NOR HAVE ANY BRAKE WARNING LIGHTS BEEN ON. AFTER THE FIRST INCIDENT(10/28/96) AND THREE MONTHS OF INVESTIGATION FORD MOTOR COMPANY REPLACED THE MASTER CYLINDER AND VALVE BLOCK. THE BRAKING SYSTEM WORKED FINE UNTIL THE MOST RECENT INCIDENT(10/9/98). IN BOTH INSTANCES THE BRAKES(BRAKING ACTION) HAD RESTORED ITSELF BY THE TIME MECHANICS AT NEWMAN LINCOLN-MERCURY STARTED AN INVESTIGATIION OF THE PROBLEM(USUALLY EARLY THE NEXT MORNING...NOTE THAT IN BOTH INSTANCES THE BRAKE LOSS OCCURRED IN THE EARLY EVENING AFTER THE GARAGE WAS CLOSED). TO DATE(12/31/98) FORD MOTOR COMPANY AND DEALER HAVE DETERMINED THAT THEY CAN FIND NO PROBLEM AND HAVE ASKED THAT I RETURN THE VEHICLE TO SERVICE WITHOUT AND ROOT CAUSE DETERMINED NOR ANY CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN. AT THIS POINT I'M RESISTING RETURNING THE CAR TO SERVICE UNTIL THE ROOT CAUSE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED. THE CAR CURRENT IS COVERED UNDER A FROD MOTOR COMPANY EXTENDED SERVICE PLAN(EXTRACARE) UNTIL 86,000 MILES OR 3/29/2001. CURRENTLY THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT'S DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES DEALERS AND REPAIRERS DIVISION IS INVESTIGATING WHY FORD MOTOR COMPANY AND/OR NEWMAN LINCOLN-MERCURY HAVE NOT PERFORMED REPAIRS TO CORRECT THE BRAKE FAILURE PROBLEM. TO DATE THE CAR IS STILL AT DEALER AND NO REPAIRS HAVE BEEN MADE.

Date of Incident:
19981009

Vehicle was involved in a crash.